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Business
Mark Stiving, Ph.D.
The Impact Pricing Podcast will help you win more business at higher prices by teaching you about pricing and value. Once you understand how your buyers perceive the value of your product, you can build, market and sell products that win at higher prices. Pricing is really about creating, communicating and capturing value.
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Unlocking Extra Profits: Why Regular Pricing Adjustments Matter for Your Business with Mike Danford

Unlocking Extra Profits: Why Regular Pricing Adjustments Matter for Your Business with Mike Danford

Mike Danford is a Growth Optimizer - CSO, UX Strategist and Product Management Consultant at Adverio.io In this podcast, Mike shares valuable insights on optimizing pricing strategies for businesses, emphasizing the importance of testing and adjusting prices regularly to stay competitive. He discusses the complexities of Amazon's Buy Box. He also provides practical advice for businesses with tight margins, highlighting how small pricing adjustments can lead to significant improvements in profitability, especially when using dynamic pricing strategies.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain actionable strategies for optimizing pricing in competitive markets with concrete examples of how small pricing changes can impact profits. Learn about the complexities of Amazon’s Buy Box, including how pricing, seller ratings, and competition affect your visibility and sales potential. Discover how to leverage dynamic and intraday pricing strategies to stay competitive, including tips on when and how to make real-time price adjustments.   "If you haven't tested pricing, do it today. Don't wait. There's no better time than right now." - Mike Danford   Topics Covered: 01:36 - What paved his entry into pricing 02:21 - Explaining how in B2C dynamic pricing is critical to staying competitive across platforms like Amazon and Walmart, where frequent promotions and price changes impact rank and visibility 03:27 - Defining 'Omnichannel' 03:59 - How brands sell through these omni channels and how brick-and-mortar sales data can be integrated with online data to enhance omnichannel strategies 05:03 - 'Omnichannel pricing' and the challenges that comes with it 07:20 - A strategy used to avoid direct price comparison 07:45 - Strategies for effective omnichannel pricing to maximize sales 12:00 - Describing how price adjustments are often small, typically starting below 3% to gauge elasticity 13:52 - The three main buckets of categorizing pricing strategy 16:15 - Explaining Amazon's automated pricing tools and third-party repricing software that generally adjust prices dynamically 18:55 - How the Amazon buy box has been a competitive issue since the platform’s early days 21:20 - Hourly changes being typically unnecessary unless there’s exceptionally high product turnover 23:25 - How geolocation-based pricing isn’t possible on major marketplaces 25:08 - Maintaining control over the buy box on Amazon 26:27 - Mike's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: “If you haven't tested pricing, do it today. Don't wait. There's no better time than right now. If you tested it a year ago and you haven't touched it, or you did it six months ago, do it again. The market is constantly changing. Be willing to make those small changes.” - Mike Danford   People/Resources Mentioned: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com Home Depot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home Walmart: https://www.walmart.com Best Buy: https://www.bestbuy.com Target: https://www.target.com   Connect with Mike Danford: Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfordmike/ Website: https://www.adverio.io/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
28:0818/11/2024
Blogcast: Mastering the Good-Better-Best Strategy: A Guide to Increasing Win Rates and Revenue

Blogcast: Mastering the Good-Better-Best Strategy: A Guide to Increasing Win Rates and Revenue

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 12, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/mastering-the-good-better-best-strategy-a-guide-to-increasing-win-rates-and-revenue/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
12:3715/11/2024
The Infinity Effect: Value Creation from Every Level of Your Company with Mark Boundy

The Infinity Effect: Value Creation from Every Level of Your Company with Mark Boundy

Mark Boundy is a business builder, sales leader, author, coach, consultant, teacher…and Chief Clarity Officer…he has grown businesses in a variety of industries using a relentless focus on customer-perceived value. In this episode, Mark discusses the importance of aligning every employee's actions with customer value, emphasizing that every touchpoint with a customer either creates or destroys value. He shares stories from his experience, including a manufacturing operator and a receptionist, to illustrate how seemingly small ideas can have significant impacts on customer satisfaction and business outcomes. Boundy underscores that value creation is about helping customers achieve desired outcomes, and this focus can drive growth, profitability, and employee fulfillment across all levels of an organization.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover real-life stories about how employees at every level, from operators to receptionists, can innovate to drive customer satisfaction and business results, making it relatable and motivating. Gain actionable strategies to ensure every team member understands how their role impacts customer value, helping you foster a culture focused on positive customer experiences. Learn how traditional metrics can sometimes hinder value creation, providing tips on aligning KPIs with customer-centric goals to achieve greater long-term success.   "Customer value comes from two things, one, your differentiation, and two, the outcome that customer achieves because of your differentiation." - Mark Boundy   Topics Covered: 01:25 - Sharing the experience that gave rise to using the word 'antipreneurial' in his book 04:08 - The importance of flexibility within processes, contrasting rigid corporate guidelines with adaptable checklists 07:41 -  Stressing the importance of a value-oriented organization not just sales around delivering customer outcomes 09:14 - Highlighting the importance of aligning sales and implementation teams to ensure realistic promises are made to customers 12:39 - What it requires to create a value-driven organization 16:09 - Emphasizing the need to prioritize customer-focused KPIs over purely efficiency-driven ones with real-life illustrations 20:12 - How focusing on customer satisfaction and adding value leads to substantial growth, high profitability, and employee satisfaction 21:35 - Stressing a point that employees feel more fulfilled and engaged when they understand how their work directly impacts customers’ lives 22:51 - Defining value and illustrating how value was created by understanding customer outcomes deeply 26:51 - Mark sharing how anyone in the company, even janitors and receptionists can add value    Key Takeaways: "If the most important process in your company is your customer's buying journey, and your KPI has nothing to do with that buying journey, that's a yellow light." - Mark Boundy "If maximizing that KPI inhibits the customer journey, I call that a masking KPI. You're measuring something that makes you worse by making yourself good at stopping the customer from complaining. You get bad at turning customers into joyous partners." - Mark Boundy   People/Resources Mentioned: The Infinity Effect How Elite Growth Companies Abolish Antipreneurial Patterns and Create More Profitable, Happy, Lifetime Customers by Mark Boundy: https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Effect-Summary-Antipreneurial-Profitable-ebook/dp/B0D1NNLWRH Lucent technologies: https://lucenttek.com/index.html Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/#tabs-35d568e0ff-item-194f491212-tab Miller Heiman Group: https://www.kornferry.com/about-us/our-story/miller-heiman-group Zappos: https://www.zappos.com Barefoot Wines: https://www.barefootwine.com   Connect with Mark Boundy: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markboundy/ Website: www.boundyconsulting.com Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
30:0511/11/2024
Blogcast: Uncover Hidden Profits with Our Opportunity Signals Worksheet

Blogcast: Uncover Hidden Profits with Our Opportunity Signals Worksheet

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on September 5, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/uncover-hidden-profits-with-our-opportunity-signals-worksheet/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
02:5508/11/2024
Value-based Pricing and Willingness To Pay, What’s the Difference? with Steven Forth

Value-based Pricing and Willingness To Pay, What’s the Difference? with Steven Forth

Steven Forth is Ibbaka’s Co-Founder, CEO, and Partner. Ibbaka is a strategic pricing advisory firm. He was CEO of LeveragePoint Innovations Inc., a SaaS business. In this episode, Steven emphasizes the importance of shaping willingness to pay by understanding and communicating real value to customers. He also highlights the role of AI and context-driven pricing in adapting to customer needs dynamically, stressing that consistent delivery and documentation of promised value are crucial for long-term retention.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Explore the nuances of pricing strategies, distinguishing between perceived, real, and proven value and how each impacts customer retention and willingness to pay. Learn why documenting value delivered to customers can significantly reduce churn, with actionable steps to demonstrate value in B2B sales. Gain insights on Context-Driven Pricing, offering a fresh approach to optimize pricing in real time.   "You need to make sure that the value you promise in sales is the value that you deliver and that you can document that value. Because if you don't do that, you're going to struggle with renewals." - Steven Forth   Topics Covered: 02:09 - Why Steven believes that value-based pricing and willingness to pay are distinct, with value coming first shaping willingness to pay 06:19 - How techniques from behavioral economics, like anchoring, actually impact value perception rather than solely increasing willingness to pay 07:12 - Acknowledging Mark's example of using "good-better-best" as a framing strategy but argues that it’s more than just a "trick" 10:40 - Introducing his concept of generative pricing, which leverages generative AI to dynamically adjust product configurations and prices based on each buyer’s context 12:35 - Steven emphasizes the need for a clear value model rather than solely relying on AI-driven willingness-to-pay estimates 14:49 - Highlights how value is not only unique to each customer but also varies over time for the same customer 17:05 - Underscoring that willingness to pay is actively shaped by how a company communicates and delivers value 18:34 - Emphasizes the need for a value model in pricing, contrasting it with software approaches like revenue management that estimate willingness to pay without actively shaping it 20:37 - Explaining why B2B pricing cannot rely on traditional price elasticity curves 21:36 - Steven's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Willingness to pay is an outcome that you shape. It's not something that is given to you by something outside of your product and how you sell it, and that you play a huge role in defining the context." - Steven Forth "We want people to pay a fair amount of money. If I can trick someone into paying more than something's valuable, greater than its actual value, and value in this case means the economic return they're going to get, I don't think I've done myself a service in the long term." - Steven Forth   People/Resources Mentioned: Pros: https://pros.com Pricefx: https://www.pricefx.com Zilliant: https://zilliant.com Vendavo: https://www.vendavo.com Tom Nagle: https://impactpricing.com/podcast/604-insights-into-value-based-pricing-strategies-for-b2b-with-tom-nagle/ Barret Thompson: https://impactpricing.com/?s=barrett+thompson B.F. Skinner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner   Connect with Steven Forth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenforth/ Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
23:1604/11/2024
Blogcast: Better Stories, Better Pricing

Blogcast: Better Stories, Better Pricing

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 29, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/better-stories-better-pricing/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
02:2401/11/2024
The Power of AI in Pricing Optimization for B2B and B2C Markets with George Boretos

The Power of AI in Pricing Optimization for B2B and B2C Markets with George Boretos

George Boretos has over 25 years of professional experience in leadership positions in the enterprise software market, a deep understanding of AI technologies, and a successful journey as an entrepreneur launching three startups and raising $9mn in Seed & Series A funding, working with Fortune 500 and other customers worldwide. His most recent endeavor, FutureUP, brings in this experience to help enterprises make data-driven decisions to optimize pricing, improve profitability, and accelerate growth. In this episode, George shares about using AI for price optimization, particularly in SaaS and manufacturing industries. He explains how his company, FutureUP, helps businesses analyze customer and macroeconomic data to determine optimal pricing strategies, focusing on standardized products. He also discusses AI’s role in predicting pricing for new markets and the importance of taking the first step to review and adjust prices regularly.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn how AI is revolutionizing pricing strategies, particularly in SaaS and manufacturing sectors. Gain a deeper understanding of the key differences between pricing in B2B and B2C markets, including negotiation tactics, price variance, and strategic vs. deal-based pricing. Discover practical advice on how to approach pricing in your business, including why regular pricing reviews and value-based pricing can make a big impact.   "Just start doing something. Even if this something is, okay, reexamine your prices. Not once per two years or per year, examine them every quarter of a year, at least. Not just your cost plus your margin, do something a bit more sophisticated. Ask your customers, for instance, or your partners to establish some other benchmarks and interesting price points." - George Boretos   Topics Covered: 01:32 - How he got started in pricing and how he initially got into AI before pricing 03:39 - The differences between AI when he started versus today’s advanced tools 05:57 - Describing his AI model and how it integrates various parameters at multiple levels 08:06 - Clarifying the common perception of AI being synonymous with neural networks as a misconception 11:04 - Explaining that for his particular model, the formulas are pre-existing and universal 12:31 - Agreeing that AI today can incorporate both internal company data and external factors 14:07 - What his company FutureUP is built out for 17:42 - How extrapolating data from one country to another can be challenging if the data sample is small 19:10 - Explaining how his company, FutureUP’s model can handle both B2B and B2C markets 20:15 - Key differences between B2B and B2C pricing strategies 22:47 - How price variance is more common in B2B though in B2C there can still be significant price differences between list and actual price 23:35 - What company size does FutureUP typically targets 24:32 - George's best pricing advice 26:18 - Two main reasons companies don't often prioritize or experiment with pricing  27:55 - Why change management is crucial in pricing decisions   Key Takeaways: "I do believe, and I do agree that the negotiation part and the discounting part is more complex and more interesting and more important for the B2B environment. The list prices are almost irrelevant." - George Boretos   People/Resources Mentioned: FutureUP: https://www.futureup.io   Connect with George Boretos: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeboretos/overlay/contact-info/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
29:2228/10/2024
Blogcast: Evils of Behavioral Economics

Blogcast: Evils of Behavioral Economics

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 22, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/evils-of-behavioral-economics/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
02:5925/10/2024
Unlocking Hidden Profits: The Power of Value Metrics and Pricing Experiments with Stephen Plume

Unlocking Hidden Profits: The Power of Value Metrics and Pricing Experiments with Stephen Plume

Stephen Plume has more than 20 years of success in venture, executive leadership, and consulting. He is a General Partner of an early-stage venture fund since 2019, driving business strategy and coaching executives in the portfolio. In this episode, Stephen discusses how AI is shifting pricing models from human-based to consumption-based metrics. He emphasizes the importance of identifying the right value metric that resonates with customers encouraging businesses to experiment with pricing to uncover hidden revenue and margin opportunities.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain insights into the cutting-edge pricing strategies for AI companies and how these differ from traditional user-based models to get a glimpse of the future of tech pricing. Learn about actionable strategies like identifying the right value metric and conducting low-risk pricing experiments, which can help businesses capture hidden revenue and improve margins. Deep dive into how venture capitalists think about returns, risk, and value, which can benefit entrepreneurs and business owners seeking to understand how to attract investment.   "There is so much opportunity to learn from low-risk pricing experiments, and people worry so much about their reputation. Get over that feeling, go out and experiment, and learn from it." - Stephen Plume   Topics Covered: 01:54 - A funny thing about Stephen not related to pricing 02:46 - How he found his way into pricing 04:21 - Reflecting on his first pricing project with Sybase 05:57 - Contrasting enterprise-level pricing with startup pricing, highlighting the complexity of pricing for larger companies  09:12 - The importance of focusing on the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for early-stage companies 10:39 - Explaining how companies often face pricing erosion as they grow and introducing the concept of 'layering' and 'fencing' 16:38 - Discussing how companies, like HubSpot and Salesforce, often start by solving a specific problem with a focused solution but later expand by adding numerous features and add-ons 17:27 - Delving into the concept of competitive positioning 21:40 - The importance of delivering significant value to customers to motivate a decision to switch from a competitor or the status quo 25:09 - Sharing insights about pricing for AI companies and broader trends in AI adoption 29:14 - Discussing the concept of pricing metrics in the context of AI and SaaS 30:32 - Stephen's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "When I'm working with early stage companies my drumbeat is, don't worry about anybody else right now, worry about your ideal customer profile. Because they are the ones who, by definition because math is a thing, will pay you more money faster than anyone else." - Stephen Plume "In the venture world what I tell the early companies I work with is, for someone to take a bet on you, they're expecting venture returns. They need to be getting 10X their money out. That's not just the investors. That's the customers need to be getting 10X their cost out, or they're not going to adopt you." - Stephen Plume "The advantage of a platform growing to solutions is, if you do it right, your margins improve rather dramatically." - Stephen Plume   People/Resources Mentioned: Sybase: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybase Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ap/?ir=1 Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/#tabs-35d568e0ff-item-194f491212-tab Regis McKenna: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regis_McKenna Geoffrey Moore: http://geoffreyamoore.com Steve Blank: https://steveblank.com HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com Zoom: https://zoom.us LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com Siebel: https://www.oracle.com/ph/cx/siebel/ Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com Intercom: https://www.intercom.com Clayton Christensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Christensen   Connect with Stephen Plume: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenplume/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
33:0421/10/2024
Blogcast: Value-Based Pricing – A Simple Definition

Blogcast: Value-Based Pricing – A Simple Definition

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 15, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here:  https://impactpricing.com/blog/value-based-pricing-a-simple-definition/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
04:0618/10/2024
Streamlining B2B Pricing: Rethink, Simplify, Automate with Barrett Thompson

Streamlining B2B Pricing: Rethink, Simplify, Automate with Barrett Thompson

Barrett Thompson is a firm believer that applied advanced math and data science can significantly improve customer lifetime value. For more than 25 years, he has helped Fortune 500 companies improve profitability and grow revenues by delivering science-based, optimized decision models. He has found that relying on the accuracy and objectivity of predictive models to guide daily decisions, rather than more subjective methods, yields superior financial results for B2B companies. In this episode, Barrett shares AI's role in pricing, how it enhances pricing strategies, identifies trends, and improves pricing decisions. He also highlights the value of understanding customer-specific needs and using data to create more tailored and effective pricing models.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Deep dive into how AI, particularly tools like ChatGPT, can revolutionize pricing strategies, making it more efficient, transparent, and data-driven. Gain valuable advice on how B2B companies can simplify and modernize their pricing processes, avoiding the pitfalls of outdated methods when adopting new pricing systems. Have a clear understanding of how to effectively implement purpose-built pricing tools to enhance profitability and competitiveness.   "If they undertake an automation of their pricing process into these modern purpose-built pricing tools, they should look very closely and critically at how to simplify their pricing process as they put that onto a superior platform."  - Barrett Thompson    Topics Covered: 01:14 - Touching a bit on the topic of the Boy Scouts program and how it is a valuable tool for character development and citizenship 01:51 - How he found a path into pricing 03:26 - Discussing the qualitative and not just the quantitative aspect to pricing 05:17 - How automated pricing systems can balance efficiency and personalization 09:14 - Explaining how AI holds great potential in generating "smart prices" 11:36 - Reflecting on the rise of generative AI and how AI in general has already influenced pricing systems 13:50 - Exploring the potential of generative AI to enhance negotiation and communication in B2B sales 15:35 - Discussing how understanding a customer's specific use case or application can directly influence pricing decisions 16:33 - Talking about how understanding a customer's specific use case or application can directly influence pricing decisions 17:57 - Highlighting how AI, like ChatGPT, can enhance tools used by pricing professionals by streamlining the process of analyzing pricing data 20:41 - Addressing the "black box" problem in pricing systems and expanding on the idea of using AI to explain its own decisions 24:14 - The importance of deepening the understanding of customer needs, particularly as the push for touchless and self-service channels grows 28:43 - Barrett's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "An important part of setting up any price guidance, price recommendation or price automation system is to ensure that you've identified the factors that were really important in driving price outcomes in the market." - Barrett Thompson  "Pricing becomes a consequence of having agreed on the value and why it matters." - Barrett Thompson  "We gather data to enrich the relationship and define places to add more value to the customer. Yes, the seller should be compensated for fair value, but not to be exploitative." - Barrett Thompson    People/Resources Mentioned: ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com   Connect with Barret Thompson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrettthompson/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
31:0014/10/2024
Blogcast: Value Is Created Twice

Blogcast: Value Is Created Twice

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 8, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/value-is-created-twice/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
03:3111/10/2024
Elevating Pricing: Shifting the Focus from Numbers to Value with Claire Wang

Elevating Pricing: Shifting the Focus from Numbers to Value with Claire Wang

Claire Wang helps startup founders and solopreneurs pick a pricing model that ensures their long-term success. In this episode, Claire shares her journey of transitioning into her own consulting practice after her corporate job. She talks on the misconceptions about pricing, how people mistakenly equate pricing with just setting a price point when it's all about understanding customer value. She emphasizes the importance of integrating pricing early on in product development, not as an afterthought. She also highlights the need for pricing professionals to be more visible and vocal about the value they bring, as many people don't understand the full scope of their work.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover the common misconception that pricing is just about setting a number and uncover how it is deeply intertwined with customer value and business strategy. Gain insights on what’s missing in the pricing industry and how professionals can elevate the value of their role. Learn how pricing should be integrated into product design and customer understanding aligning business goals with customer satisfaction.   "Understand your customers, understand their needs. And once you do that, then you'll have a better understanding about their willingness to pay." - Claire Wang   Topics Covered: 01:34 - How she found herself in pricing 02:12 - Pricing as it relates to actuary 03:57 - Explaining the cost-plus pricing in the world of insurance 06:57 - Discussing about price sensitivity and willingness to pay with regard to insurance 08:09 - Reason behind starting her consulting firm 10:02 - The misconception about pricing and what it truly is 14:46 - How success of pricing strategies often depends on how integrated pricing is within a company's overall operations 16:49 - Pricing being more than just setting a number 18:20 - Claire making her point that pricing should not be viewed as a zero-sum game 23:45 - Sharing her thoughts on building visibility for pricing professionals to raise awareness about the pricing profession 25:56 - Gauging perceived value of pricing professionals based on their visibility and content 27:34 - Claire's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Most people have no clue what pricing really is. They equate pricing with setting a price point, which is completely untrue." - Claire Wang "Pricing, fundamentally, is all about value." - Claire Wang "Pricing has got nothing to do with the price point. You really need to go through the whole funnel. And once you've done that, then the price point is just a byproduct." - Claire Wang   People/Resources Mentioned: Allstate Insurance: https://www.allstate.com Telstra: https://www.telstra.com.au   Connect with Claire Wang: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-wang/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
29:2407/10/2024
Blogcast: Southwest Airlines’ New Seating Strategy: A Billion-Dollar Decision?

Blogcast: Southwest Airlines’ New Seating Strategy: A Billion-Dollar Decision?

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on August 1, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/southwest-airlines-new-seating-strategy-a-billion-dollar-decision/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
02:3804/10/2024
Unlocking Revenue: The Role of Empathy and Trust in Pricing with Nathan Yeung

Unlocking Revenue: The Role of Empathy and Trust in Pricing with Nathan Yeung

With over six years of experience as a leader in marketing operations, Nathan Yeung helps mid-market businesses build, enhance, or support their marketing functions and drive value creation. As the Vice President, CMO Services at Find Your Audience Marketing Partner, he leads teams of marketing managers, graphic designers, media buyers, coordinators, and freelancers to develop and implement marketing strategies for organizations across various industries. In this episode, Nathan shares how empathy is crucial for understanding and communicating value, which directly influences pricing and client trust. He emphasized that many web pages fail because they attempt to appeal to everyone rather than focus on a specific audience and problem. Additionally, he advised against charging too little, suggesting that higher rates can be justified when trust is established, and recommends offering multiple pricing options to highlight the value of the primary choice.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn to understand and address your customers' pain points to significantly impact your pricing strategy and boost trust, leading to higher revenue. Find out why many web pages fail to convert and get actionable advice on how to create focused, empathetic web content that resonates with your target audience. Explore how trust plays a crucial role in client relationships and how it can influence pricing decisions, helping you secure higher-value contracts.   "Never give a single price. Think about creative ways to give at least three and make your obvious choice your bottom line." - Nathan Yeung   Topics Covered: 01:07 - Talking about his disciplined approach to health 02:01 - How he got into pricing and his perspectives on pricing 03:53 - Discussing his approach to helping B2B companies "discover revenue" 06:22 - The reactions and learning opportunities that come when a client quickly accepts a price offer 07:48 - The importance of truly understanding and communicating value when helping businesses discover revenue 11:17 - Value creation in B2B and B2C contexts 14:03 - Expanding on the concept of having marketing take on internal communications 15:08 - Two key issues why web pages fail and bringing in additional point about the "curse of knowledge" 18:22 - Discusses the concept of pricing and positioning in business 22:22 - Trust and how it relates to pricing and business growth 23:04 - Talking about his book, 'The Lazy Consumer', and discussing the concept of trust 24:49 - Elaborating on the importance of empathy in sales and how it can trigger a response from customers 25:53 - Underscoring the crucial link between trust and pricing 27:20 - Nathan's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "When you forget about that [people are human], you get a lot of people locked into this state of logical thinking. And when you're too logical, it's hard to generate a lot of value. Because when they're logical, they're being highly critical." - Nathan Yeung "Understanding your ideal customer profile and really understanding their true pain points and where they are in a business, you can understand value." - Nathan Yeung "Value makes you really be empathetic, and you really have to understand what is valuable to your customer." - Nathan Yeung "Just because there's a quantifiable change that is valuable, that does not necessarily mean that person values that the most." - Nathan Yeung "HR is great for compliance and process and all that kind of lovely stuff, but they're really not great marketers." - Nathan Yeung "This idea of building culture, while it's important for HR to take care of that and be the accountable part of that, the reality is that marketers are likely the more important person to actually bring that message to market, which is the company in itself." - Nathan Yeung   Connect with Nathan Yeung:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yeungnathan/ Website: https://www.findyouraudience.online/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
28:2430/09/2024
Blogcast: Stop Pre-Discounting

Blogcast: Stop Pre-Discounting

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 25, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/stop-pre-discounting/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
03:2227/09/2024
How Effective Writing Shapes Pricing Strategy with Frank Luby

How Effective Writing Shapes Pricing Strategy with Frank Luby

Frank Luby is a writing partner and editor for business books, articles, and corporate communication and co-founder and CEO at Present Tense LLC. In this episode, Frank emphasizes the importance of clear and effective writing for pricing professionals, offering techniques like the "10-10" and "Rule of 13" methods to structure writing efficiently. He highlights how good writing can influence decision-making within organizations, often reaching and persuading people beyond initial conversations. Additionally, he underscores the value of listening to customers and understanding their real needs, which can significantly enhance pricing strategies and company success.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover practical writing tips and actionable strategies to help you organize and improve your writing, making it more persuasive and impactful. Learn how writing plays a crucial role in influencing and shifting thinking within organizations amplifying your message beyond one-on-one conversations. Gain insights on structuring effective communication, prioritizing the right information in your writing and focusing on making a single point effectively.    "Truly, honestly, listen to customers." - Frank Luby   Topics Covered: 01:33 - How he got into pricing 03:23 - What's his contribution in Hermann Simon's book on pricing 04:21 - Noting two challenging tasks that makes writing about pricing difficult 05:39 - Acknowledging the complexity of the term "value" in pricing 07:36 - Deciding which narrative perspective to use in writing between blogs and books 09:15 - An effective writing technique to engage readers 10:05 - What his role is at the upcoming PPS (Professional Pricing Society) conference 12:09 - Why a pricing director or manager should care about improving their writing skills, even if they feel confident writing emails 14:10 - How writing can have a greater influence than many people realize 15:46 - Sharing two key writing approaches to help people organize their thoughts effectively 18:50 - Comparing writing to architecture 20:03 - Explaining the "Rule of 13" method as a way to test whether a chapter idea can stand alone 21:21 - The concept of prioritizing writing tasks using the acronym "CSR”. 23:01 - Importance of understanding your audience, especially when trying to shift or replace existing strategies in pricing  25:53 - Introducing the 50/500 rule: Making a single, clear point in writing 27:31 - Frank's best pricing advice. 28:24 - Why businesses often don't listen to their customers, despite it being an obvious necessity   Key Takeaways: "I often make the analogy to writing an architecture. And you wouldn't want somebody building your house just by having a bunch of bricks and cement and two by fours delivered. You'd like to see a plan, you'd like to see what they're going to design. And it's hard to change things later on. So, that planning part, especially for a book, is immensely important." - Frank Luby "That's where this 13-method comes in where you can test some of those things that if you can't have those three supporting pieces, or three examples or three ways to elaborate on a particular point, that's your signal right off the bat that that might not carry a chapter." - Frank Luby "The other hint is prioritizing what you want to write about." - Frank Luby "We love simplification and we love to have simple answers and simple descriptions, and no segment of customers, or no individual customer, is really that simple. So, we pick up on the things that we can make easy groups out of and we tend to ignore the rest. And sometimes, the rest we're ignoring is really the vital part of the equation." - Frank Luby   People/Resources Mentioned: Hermann Simon: https://hermannsimon.com Price Management: Strategy, Analysis, Decision, Implementation: https://www.amazon.com/Price-Management-Strategy-Analysis-Implementation/dp/3319994557 Dow Jones: https://www.dowjones.com/about/ David Brooks: https://www.nytimes.com/column/david-brooks   Connect with Frank Luby: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-luby-318220/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
30:2123/09/2024
Blogcast: The 5 Ws of Pricing

Blogcast: The 5 Ws of Pricing

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 18, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/the-5-ws-of-pricing/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
03:0420/09/2024
Beyond the Label: Understanding Wine Pricing and Consumer Taste with Tim Hanni

Beyond the Label: Understanding Wine Pricing and Consumer Taste with Tim Hanni

Tim Hanni is a trailblazer in the wine industry, renowned for his groundbreaking work in wine education, sensory sciences, and his mission to demystify wine for all. With the prestigious title of Master of Wine, Hanni holds the distinction of being one of the first Americans to earn this credential, marking a significant milestone in his illustrious career. In this episode, Tim shares how perceptions of wine quality are influenced more by psychological and sensory factors than by price, often making expensive wines indistinguishable from cheaper ones in blind tastings. He introduces the concept of "perceptual individualism," explaining how personal differences in taste perception affect wine preferences. Additionally, he highlights the complexities of wine pricing, contrasting the traditional cost-plus approach with the need to consider market perceptions and branding.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain insights into wine perception and psychology. Discover the challenges of traditional wine wisdom to understand the wine industry's myths and realities. Learn a comprehensive view on wine pricing contrasting cost-plus pricing with value-based pricing to help you gain insights into the factors that influence wine prices, including production costs, marketing, and consumer perception.   "There are people who buy out on price alone. If it's more expensive, it must be better. But there's an inverse relationship between price and quality." - Tim Hanni   Topics Covered: 02:01 - Discussing the unique nature of wine pricing and how it affects consumer behavior 04:19 - Talking about the impact of wealthy individuals, particularly those from Silicon Valley, entering the wine industry, which he describes as being over-premiumized 06:22 - Discussing the challenges of market segmentation in the wine industry, comparing it to the evolution of the tech industry 10:22 - Critiquing the wine industry's elitism and rigidity, using examples to illustrate how misleading some widely accepted norms are 12:18 - The background and story of 'Two-Buck Chuck' 13:52 - Addressing the often-debated relationship between wine quality and price 16:30 - Introducing the concept of "perceptual individualism"  20:13 - Elaborating on a wine study conducted by Frédéric Brochet at the University of Bordeaux in 2001 24:32 -  How wine pricing is determined, focusing on what he refers to as the "bottom-up approach." 25:48 - Explaining the complexities of wine pricing and how factors beyond production costs influence the final price of a bottle 28:07 - How the complexity of pricing wine remains somewhat elusive   Key Takeaways: “The label's not going to make necessarily all that much of a difference in the margin, but the label plus the provenance." - Tim Hanni “Unequivocally, sweet wine drinkers have the most taste buds. They have the highest perceptual acuity of any consumers at all. And often you are paying an extreme premium for that sweet wine.” - Tim Hanni   People/Resources Mentioned: Julia Child: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child Trader Joe's: https://www.traderjoes.com/home Fred Franzia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Franzia Charles F. Shaw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Shaw California State Fair Wine Competition: https://calexpostatefair.com/competitions/california-commercial-wine/ Joel Butler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-butler-mw-1697667/ Frederic Brochet: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Frederic-Brochet-2029425754 California Grape Crush Report: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Specialty_and_Other_Releases/Grapes/Crush/Final/2023/2023_Final_Grape_Crush_Report.pdf Robert Parker: https://www.robertparker.com/about/the-rating-system   Connect with Tim Hanni: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timhannimw/ Website: https://winebusinesseducation.com/  Website: https://www.myvinotype.com/en/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
30:1116/09/2024
Blogcast: High Prices and Lost Deals

Blogcast: High Prices and Lost Deals

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 11, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/high-prices-and-lost-deals/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
03:3513/09/2024
Get Your Business Exit Ready While Maximizing Its Value with Christine Nicholson

Get Your Business Exit Ready While Maximizing Its Value with Christine Nicholson

Christine Nicholson has a 25-year experience of running companies in multiple sectors. She started, built, and exited multiple successful businesses. She took a business from £0-£4.5m turnover in 15 months. And she also rescued a bankrupt company from millions in debt to an eight-figure exit in under 18 months. More than just experience, she studied hard to become a Chartered Management Accountant with a law degree, a postgraduate degree in Information Systems Management - and a Professionally Accredited and Experienced Business Mentor.  In this episode, Christine shares valuable insights on several key topics related to business valuation and pricing like the owner's emotional attachment, preparing a business for sale and customer feedback for pricing strategies. She provides a balanced view of how to strategically prepare a business for sale, emphasizing the importance of logical pricing decisions and understanding customer value perceptions.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain insights on emotional influence in business decisions to help you make more informed, rational decisions that enhance your company's value. Discover actionable tips on how to boost a company's valuation by implementing effective pricing strategies.  Learn the importance of customer engagement to understand their perception of value for better pricing decisions.   "Go and ask your customers what they think of your service. If you were no longer providing this service, what would they be willing to pay for the level of service that they get from someone else?" - Christine Nicholson   Topics Covered: 01:02 - How did she get involved in pricing 03:20 - Discussing a common misconception among business owners regarding the value of their businesses 03:51 - Highlighting a scenario of the emotional complexities and the challenges business owners face when selling their businesses 12:22 - The psychological dynamics involved when business owners try to value their businesses and their services 14:37 - Explaining the key factors that sophisticated buyers look for when purchasing a company 17:22 - Deeper motivations tied to personal beliefs and values other than price when selling a business 19:40 - How adjusting pricing is one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve a business 22:05 - Christine's approach to helping companies fix their pricing strategies which involves more than simply raising prices 24:07 - Addressing the emotional and logical aspects of business decision-making 25:36 - Christine's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "When you're talking directly to your customers, you have to talk with your heart because you're dealing with one human being typically to another. " - Christine Nicholson "...if you get your pricing right, then you're going to make more profits; you're going to generate more positive cash flows." - Christine Nicholson "When it comes to selling your business, all the heart is with the seller, and all the logic is with the buyer." - Christine Nicholson "When people put their soul into something, they attach a value to it when they're selling their business; ironically, and completely paradoxically, they don't attach the value of the effort that they put into the business to their customers." - Christine Nicholson "One of the biggest problems that I see from a selling business is where somebody is mentally associating the value of the business by the effort they've put in, but they're not reflecting that correctly in the way that their pricing to their customers." - Christine Nicholson "You need to believe the value that you are giving to your client." - Christine Nicholson "Buyers do not want to buy a job. They are buying an investment that has a hard return on capital. And the more certain they are about the return on capital, the higher the money that they will pay and the faster you'll get the cash in your bank." - Christine Nicholson   Connect with Christine Nicholson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-nicholson/ Website: https://getexitready.co.uk/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
30:0609/09/2024
Listening to Your Market: The Key to Effective Pricing with Patrick Taylor

Listening to Your Market: The Key to Effective Pricing with Patrick Taylor

Patrick Taylor is a global business improvement expert with over 30 years of delivered value leveraging experience across all domains of pricing and margin improvement as well as commercial and financial processes. In this episode, Patrick shares the critical aspects of effective pricing strategies and their impact on business profitability. He emphasizes the importance of understanding both the external market and customer needs when setting prices. He also advocates for the use of various data visualization tools, such as scatterplots and Pareto charts, to analyze pricing effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain insights into customer-focused pricing and understand market conditions when setting prices to align pricing strategies with customer expectations. Learn about profitability metrics and delve into the significance of monitoring profitability by customer and product. Understand sales team dynamics to empower sales teams with the knowledge and tools needed to confidently sell at set prices.   "Listen to your customers, look at your market, look externally first on price." - Patrick Taylor   Topics Covered: 01:14 - Patrick describing his journey into the pricing world 04:01 - Sharing his insights on how pricing has evolved over the years and his fundamental approach to it 07:22 - Emphasizing on the importance of focusing on customer value rather than getting overly caught up in tools like Excel or AI 08:54 - How to motivate executives to focus more on the value they deliver to customers and the decisions those customers have to make 11:58 - Aligning product offerings with customer needs and maximizing revenue opportunities 13:38 - How convincing a CEO to focus on pricing requires demonstrating that there is a real problem 17:34 - Highlighting the importance of using data-driven KPIs and charts to understand pricing behavior and sales performance and important thoughts about price variance 22:09 - What is it about the Pareto chart that he considers it when doing pricing 26:24 - Discussing the importance of focusing on margin dollars over margin percentages, especially when market conditions dictate pricing 29:14 - Patrick's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "At the end of the day, from a pricing perspective, the customer only cares about two things. They care about the value they get relative to what they're buying and relative to the next best competitive alternative." - Patrick Taylor "Putting that customer first is the number one thing you've got to do." - Patrick Taylor "You can create the best model in the world, but if it doesn't work easily for your sales team to work, they can't communicate it to their customer; it's a problem." - Patrick Taylor   People/Resources Mentioned: Tom Nagle: https://impactpricing.com/podcast/604-insights-into-value-based-pricing-strategies-for-b2b-with-tom-nagle/ Alteryx: https://www.alteryx.com Google: https://www.google.com/?client=safari Tableau: https://www.tableau.com Pros: https://pros.com   Connect with Patrick Taylor: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickjtaylor/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
31:1002/09/2024
Mastering the Nine Boxes: A Strategic Approach to Pricing with David Brown

Mastering the Nine Boxes: A Strategic Approach to Pricing with David Brown

David Brown is the author of "Banned Business Books, Volume 1, Pricing," a fictional account that narrates how a marketer and a pricing guru stand up and optimize the pricing function in a company. In this episode, David shares what his book 'Banned Business Books' is all about highlighting the "Nine Boxes" framework for organizing and executing pricing strategies effectively. He emphasizes the critical role of a Pricing Council in bringing order and clarity to pricing decisions within a company. Additionally, he highlights the value of understanding customers deeply and segmenting them to optimize pricing and business outcomes.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Deep dive into the nine boxes framework, a comprehensive tool for organizing and executing pricing strategies.  Learn the critical importance of understanding your customers as the foundation for effective pricing. Discover how to set up a pricing council and navigate the challenges of pricing in different organizations.   "Don't start thinking that you're going to figure out pricing by looking at margins; start with the customers." - David Brown   Topics Covered: 01:34 - Sharing his pricing journey 03:31 - Discussing the role of finance professionals in relation to pricing and how their focus is on defending and improving margins 06:22 - What made him title his book as Banned Business Books 08:51 - Addressing a critique from Mark about the applicability of his book's content 10:26 - Elaborating on the origin and development of his "nine boxes" framework for pricing 14:09 - Discussing how different aspects of pricing, such as packaging and portfolio optimization fit within his "nine boxes" framework 16:02 - How he continues to use the "nine boxes" as a way to organize and prioritize pricing projects, especially when collaborating with a pricing council 18:07 - Sharing his insights on establishing and maintaining an effective pricing council 20:08 - Agreeing that pricing is a critical function and is often a new and somewhat undefined role 21:04 - Proposing the idea of a pricing council to a CEO 23:08 - David's best pricing advice 25:29 - What the Volume 2 of his book series will focus on   Key Takeaways: "Price setting is critical; that's where you have the opportunity to start claiming the value that you deserve for your innovations." - David Brown "The main thing that the Pricing Council has to have is energy and a purpose; the ones that do the best have a clear mandate, meaning that the decisions that the council takes on price are carried out and are effective across the company." - David Brown "You want to speak with the leaders and the potential figures that are going to be in the pricing council first and understand what makes the company tick and what needs to be fixed before you start fixing things." - David Brown   People/Resources Mentioned: Unilever: https://www.unilever.com.ph Mosaic: https://www.mosaic.com/sustainability American Express: https://www.americanexpress.com Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/ph-en/ Blackberry: https://www.blackberry.com/us/en   Connect with David Brown: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dbrown14/ Website: www.bannedbusinessbooks.com   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
26:5926/08/2024
Blogcast: Understanding Fencing: Google’s Strategy to Maintain Regional Pricing for YouTube Premium

Blogcast: Understanding Fencing: Google’s Strategy to Maintain Regional Pricing for YouTube Premium

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on July 4, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/understanding-fencing-googles-strategy-to-maintain-regional-pricing-for-youtube-premium/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
03:0623/08/2024
How Behavioral Economics Influence Consumer Decisions Effectively with Kristen Berman

How Behavioral Economics Influence Consumer Decisions Effectively with Kristen Berman

Kristen Berman co-founded Irrational Labs, a behavioral product design company, with Dan Ariely in 2013. Irrational Labs helps companies and nonprofits understand and leverage behavioral economics to increase the health, wealth and happiness of their users. In this episode, Kristen explores the intricacies of pricing strategies, emphasizing the importance of understanding behavioral economics to influence consumer decisions effectively. She discusses how techniques like the decoy effect, anchoring, and the power of price endings (like 99 cents) can drive customer behavior. Additionally, she highlights the challenges of pricing revolutionary products due to the lack of reference points and the creative approaches needed to establish them in the market.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Deep dive into pricing strategies like the Good-Better-Best model, the Decoy Effect, and the psychology behind price ending to help you understand how to make pricing decisions that drive customer behaviors and increase sales. Find out valuable perspectives on how human psychology influences purchasing decisions which is essential for anyone looking to optimize their pricing or marketing strategies. Discover practical advice and real-world examples to see how you can apply these concepts to your own business.   "It's all relative. So, what are customers using as a reference point? If it's off your product site, then you need to help them create a new reference point within your product site." - Kristen Berman   Topics Covered: 01:14 - Sharing how she transitioned into behavioral economics from her role as a product manager at Intuit 03:42 - How behavioral science tie to pricing and product 06:10 - An example of how behavioral economics influence product decisions 08:50 - Explaining the concept of the "paradox of choice" 11:35 - Turning the path of least resistance into the preferred choice 14:30 - Simplifying decision-making for customers with the concept of "good, better, best" product offerings 16:42 - Explaining the decoy effect and how it influences consumer decision-making 19:09 - The reason behind the presentation of pricing options in the context of behavioral economics 22:43 - The concept of framing in sales in the context of product features and the importance of trials in subscription-based models 25:25 - How people often rely on heuristics, or mental shortcuts, when making decisions about prices 28:56 - Kristen's best pricing advice 29:28 - Various sources of reference points 31:19 - The challenge of pricing revolutionary products due to the lack of existing reference points   Key Takeaways: "People don't come in with an understanding of the exact thing that they want to purchase at the exact moment. And so, our job is to help them understand value, and choice helps people understand value." - Kristen Berman "We're using the heuristics on how big the number is to make a lot of fairness decisions." - Kristen Berman "We are relative creatures. We have reference points and we use our reference points to understand value. And so, it's not just the price, it's the reference point that we're using." - Kristen Berman   People/Resources Mentioned: Intuit: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com Dan Ariely: https://danariely.com/all-about-dan/ One Medical: https://www.onemedical.com Steve Jobs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs Apple: https://www.apple.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/ Study: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thesoundagency.study&hl=en_ZA&pli=1Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/ph   Connect with Kristen Berman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenberman/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
32:5519/08/2024
Blogcast: How to Charge Different Customers Based on Value Received

Blogcast: How to Charge Different Customers Based on Value Received

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on June 27, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/how-to-charge-different-customers-based-on-value-received/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
03:5216/08/2024
#CLASSIC The Power of Behavioral Economics in Pricing with Florian Bauer

#CLASSIC The Power of Behavioral Economics in Pricing with Florian Bauer

Florian Bauer is an internationally sought-after expert and speaker on the subject of price psychology and behavioral pricing. He is an honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich and author of several books on price research. He also has a doctorate in Psychology at TU Darmstadt, MIT, and Harvard. In this episode, Florian talks about how discounts can give you short-term gain but cost you long-term. He underscores that there are other means to incentivize customers without diminishing a products’ value perception. And that cashback is one thing to consider other than discounts. He also talks about buyers’ irrationalities and how to use Behavioral Economics to influence their decision-making and let it work in your favor.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn about the psychology of price structure and how it influences consumers’ buying behavior Find out what you can, what you should, and what you should not do when giving a discount  Learn how Behavioral Economics can help you influence buyers’ decision-making and maximize your company’s profit    “If you want to price or sell something, you have to think in two dimensions. You have to think about what people want. That's the traditional value-based approach. And you have to think in the dimension of how they decide.”   - Florian Bauer   Topics Covered: 01:28 - How Florian got started in Pricing 02:25 - What the psychology of price structure is all about 03:22 - What a price structure looks like 04:12 - What’s the psychology behind using cashback than just lowering the price 06:03 - How do discounts differ from cashback 07:39 - The feeling of disconnect with cashback 08:20 - Cashback being an icing on the cake that can potentially make you feel more decided about your choice 10:02 - What’s the disadvantage of discounting 11:36 - What behavioral economics means for pricing 16:15 - Different people behave differently when it comes to decision irrationalities 18:00 - His thoughts on the ethical issue about Behavioral Economics 23:22 - What is Behavioral Economics showing us and why this works in the B2B world 25:38 - How heuristics simplify complex decisions 29:35 - Florian’s best pricing advice that can significantly impact your business   Key Takeaways: “Never ever give a discount without anything the customer has to give in return.” - Florian Bauer  “That's the issue with discounting. It really works very well short-term. So, you have to gain short term, but you have to cost long-term.” - Florian Bauer  “If I want to sell somebody something, I need to know what he wants, or she wants, and I need to adapt my sales approach and my pricing model, potentially, to how he decides.” - Florian Bauer “For me, the purpose of marketing, pricing, and sales is to influence decisions. So, there is no reason to have a marketing campaign or a marketing team if you would not have the idea that I can influence my customers' decision in my favor.” - Florian Bauer “I think when we talk about value and price acceptance, it's very much a story. And there is not one story better than another one. People hate to make decisions, they want to be made decided and with some stories, they are quicker in deciding than in others.” - Florian Bauer “Think about that you're not only selling value; you’re also managing decisions. If you keep that in mind when you design your pricing model, you also avoid the traditional clash between pricing and sales because you're also able to tell your salespeople how they can actually execute your pricing strategy to make the customers actually follow the decision or the directions you want them to.” - Florian Bauer   Resources / People Mentioned: Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman   Connect with Florian Bauer: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/profdrflorianbauer/   Connect with Mark Stiving:   Email: [email protected]    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
31:1812/08/2024
Blogcast: Revamp Your Pricing Strategy: Pros & Cons of 4 Popular Models

Blogcast: Revamp Your Pricing Strategy: Pros & Cons of 4 Popular Models

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on June 20, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/revamp-your-pricing-strategy-pros-cons-of-4-popular-models/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
10:0209/08/2024
Generative Pricing Explained: How AI Will Transform Value Measurement and Proposal Success with Steven Forth

Generative Pricing Explained: How AI Will Transform Value Measurement and Proposal Success with Steven Forth

Steven Forth is Ibbaka’s Co-Founder, CEO, and Partner. Ibbaka is a strategic pricing advisory firm. He was CEO of LeveragePoint Innovations Inc., a SaaS business. In this episode, Steven explores the concept of generative pricing, emphasizing how AI can transform pricing strategies through real-time value measurement and dynamic proposal evaluation. He discusses how composable AI applications and generative adversarial networks might drive advancements in pricing and proposal management. Practical advice is also provided on using AI to optimize proposals, including developing effective evaluation rubrics and leveraging AI for better decision-making.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Delves into the concept of generative pricing and how it can revolutionize pricing strategies through real-time value measurement, composability, and AI-driven proposal evaluation. Discover actionable advice on using AI to evaluate and improve proposals before submission which includes tips on developing effective rubrics and using AI tools to enhance proposal quality. Explore the future of pricing in a world increasingly influenced by AI, including the challenges of scaling costs, measuring value, and managing pricing with AI.   "Build a system that will evaluate your proposals, including your pricing proposals, before you send them out. You can do this using your currently available AI tools." - Steven Forth   Topics Covered: 01:01 - Introducing the concept of "generative pricing" in the context of generative AI applications 02:17 - Elaborating on the concept of generative pricing by discussing the cost dynamics associated with generative AI applications compared to traditional SaaS applications 04:35 - Discussing the differences in cost between traditional search engines like Google and AI-powered services like Perplexity, highlighting the implications for generative pricing 09:28 - Shift in cost structures and the emerging properties of generative AI applications 13:54 - Configuring solutions that optimize the value delivered to customers continuously 16:02 - The potential for generative AI to enable more accurate and transparent value-based pricing models 18:41 - Explore the concept of generative pricing in the context of proposals and outcome-based pricing 22:10 - The idea of making predictions about the future of pricing, particularly in the context of generative AI, using a website called longbets.com 23:01 - How generative pricing necessitates a rethinking of pricing approaches 24:01 - Generative AI and how it affects cost management and value capture 25:30 - Discussing the implications of generative AI on the value and pricing of applications, particularly focusing on composable AI 28:42 - Steven's best pricing advice and actionable steps for leveraging AI in proposal evaluation and improvement   Key Takeaways: "Yes, we have to be aware of costs. And the pricing systems are also going to need to be cost-management systems. But what's going to drive the configuration is value optimization." - Steven Forth "Is generative pricing a clear, fully baked concept today? No, it's not. But I believe that generative AI is going to cause enough change that it's going to force us to rethink how we approach pricing." - Steven Forth "...possibly as we get more sophisticated and flexible models, we'll be able to more formally manage the relationship between emotional values and also do a better job of pricing in order to reflect externalities." - Steven Forth "We're going to have to really start designing our proposals and our pricing with the assumption that the consumer or one of the consumers is actually going to be an AI. And I think that also changes how we think about the pricing as well, and we're gonna need AIs in order to generate pricing that other AIs are going to accept." - Steven Forth   People/Resources Mentioned: Intercom: https://www.intercom.com Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai Google: https://www.google.com/?client=safari Gemini: https://gemini.google.comTheory  Theory Ventures: https://theory.ventures Oracle: https://www.oracle.com Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ph/ Totogi: https://totogi.com Long Bets: https://longbets.org   Connect with Steven Forth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenforth/ Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
31:2405/08/2024
Blogcast: Collusion vs. Implicit Collusion: Navigating Legal and Profitable Pricing Strategies

Blogcast: Collusion vs. Implicit Collusion: Navigating Legal and Profitable Pricing Strategies

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on June 13, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/collusion-vs-implicit-collusion-navigating-legal-and-profitable-pricing-strategies/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
03:4102/08/2024
Product-Led Growth vs. Sales-Led Growth with Leah Tharin

Product-Led Growth vs. Sales-Led Growth with Leah Tharin

Leah Tharin brings B2B SaaS to the product-led growth retention light. Advising organizations to bring growth, product, marketing, and sales in line, scaling to move down or upmarket. She works in the operational details and not the hypothetical clouds with her clients. In this episode, Leah explains the differences between product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led growth, highlighting the benefits of usage-limited freemiums in PLG strategies. She emphasizes the importance of focusing on core value and customer experience when designing freemiums. She advises on pricing strategies, recommending minimal price changes during the early stages and frequent experiments as the company matures.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Find detailed definitions of key business concepts like product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led growth (SLG) that offer valuable comparisons to help you understand their differences, as well as applications. Learn practical and actionable advice on pricing strategies, emphasizing the importance of initial pricing for early-stage companies and the need for frequent pricing experiments as the company grows. Deep dive into effective business practices, such as leveraging freemium models and understanding the importance of customer value in pricing strategies.   "If you cannot convince people to use your stuff for free, then I think you should not have any price on your product." - Leah Tharin   Topics Covered: 01:32 - Why she describe the relationship between pricing and value as stressful 03:09 - Defining a product-led growth 06:47 - Leah expanding the product-led growth definition to include interactive demos and automated marketing tools 08:49 - How companies adopt product-led growth to improve cost efficiency and compete with more agile, cost-effective competitors 11:22 - Sales-led growth defined 14:20 - What does a product-led growth focuses in getting into 20:02 - Understanding a Freemium product offer 24:10 - Why she prefers a Freemium model that is usage-limited 26:46 - An outcome-driven way of looking at the minimum viable product  29:31 - Leah's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Traditionally we talk about product-led growth in the terms of trials, freemiums, getting something for free forever until you buy it, and so forth. But I also talk about it in the context of getting an interactive demo where you understand what they now do inside of this demo." - Leah Tharin "...what we try to do in product-led growth is exactly this. It's not so much about how much the customer spends in the initial payment with us or like even the first couple of months, maybe even year. It is about the lifetime value, how fast we can escalate this of course as well because this is also a sign of customer value." - Leah Tharin "For commoditized markets, product-led growth, if it can be done, it's not always the right thing, but definitely the choice that you have to make. In new verticals with extremely complicated integrations, we tend to be more sales-led for sure." - Leah Tharin   People /Resources Mentioned: Netflix: https://www.netflix.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com Hubspot: https://www.hubspot.com Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com   Connect with Leah Tharin: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahtharin/ Website: https://www.leahtharin.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
32:1729/07/2024
Blogcast: Price Segmentation in Action: Why Geography Matters for Your Wallet

Blogcast: Price Segmentation in Action: Why Geography Matters for Your Wallet

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on June 6, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/price-segmentation-in-action-why-geography-matters-for-your-wallet/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
04:0126/07/2024
Navigating Pricing Systems and Value-Based Selling in SaaS with Mac Kremer

Navigating Pricing Systems and Value-Based Selling in SaaS with Mac Kremer

Mac Kremer leads the pricing strategy practice at K1 Investment Management. He is experienced in B2B SaaS investing and value creation work. In this episode, Mac shares strategies for growing SaaS businesses through price increases, upsells, cross-sells, and increased usage. It discusses the complexities of implementing pricing systems and emphasizes the importance of flexibility and understanding your pricing model. Additionally, it highlights the need to educate sales teams on value-based selling to reduce discounting and improve sales effectiveness.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover valuable strategies for growing SaaS businesses, including ways to expand, manage and track revenue streams effectively. Understand the complexities of implementing pricing systems in various-sized companies and find out solutions from simple tools to more sophisticated systems. Learn practical tips on communicating value to customers, helping sales teams to sell more effectively reducing the reliance on discounts.   "Sit down with whoever's responsible for pricing, decide to set up a committee and a cadence and just start talking about it more and more." - Mac Kremer   Topics Covered: 01:35 - How Mac found himself in pricing 02:42 - Describing his role at a private equity firm as both an advisor and consultant 03:38 - Discussing the importance of customer conversations in understanding value propositions 05:47 - Explaining that value can also include benefits beyond profit 07:28 - Similarities and differences between B2B and B2C purchasing decisions 08:49 - Using ROI calculators and the ability of sales reps to contextualize ROI within the business's specific goals 09:56 - How ownership of pricing in a company depends on its stage of development 14:01 - Importance of forecasting and budgeting for pricing activities 16:00 - Understanding the sources of revenue growth highlighting the four ways to grow a customer: Win, Keep, Grow 19:49 - What to focus on when it comes to net revenue retention 21:35 - Variety of pricing systems used and how it depends on the complexity of pricing models used 23:55 - The complexities of implementing and managing pricing systems as companies grow 25:57 - Helping salespeople understand and communicate value 29:06 - Mac's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Customer conversations are so critical to understanding the value proposition of your solution, and where you kind of see your customer's perceiving value before you even start to talk about price." - Mac Kremer "The best place to start when you're having customer conversations is, you can go in and you can kind of engineer the true value calculator, the EVC, the economic value to the customer. But I think it's also just understanding their perception of the value that they're receiving. Because I think value comes in a lot of different forms, even outside of just profit." - Mac Kremer "A lot depends on the complexity of your pricing model when you go to think about what system we should be using?" - Mac Kremer   People/Resources Mentioned: Maxio: https://www.maxio.com Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com Gainsight: https://www.gainsight.com NetSuite: https://www.netsuite.com/portal/home.shtmlSalesforce:https://www.salesforce.com Tableau: https://www.tableau.com   Connect with Mac Kremer: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mac-kremer/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
31:3522/07/2024
Blogcast: The Price is NEVER Right!

Blogcast: The Price is NEVER Right!

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 30, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/the-price-is-never-right/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
02:5319/07/2024
Pricing for the Planet: Leveraging Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage with Fabien Cros

Pricing for the Planet: Leveraging Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage with Fabien Cros

With 10+ years in strategic data-marketing, digital, AI and management consulting across sectors like automotive, travel, pharma, and BPO, Fabien Cros has been recognized for his knack to develop and deploy impactful, data-driven solutions. His expertise spans data consulting, AI solutions, UX, marketing analytics, and more. In this episode, Fabien shares successful case studies, such as Patagonia and Decathlon, demonstrating how companies can transition to more sustainable business models and achieve higher profitability. Also, learn practical advice and strategies that can be directly applied to a company's business operations, helping make informed decisions and drive impact.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover how to incorporate sustainability into your business models and pricing strategies, gaining valuable insights along the way Gain in-depth knowledge and practical advice on leveraging sustainability as a competitive advantage, backed by real-world examples and data Learn why there is a significant untapped market for sustainability-focused products and services, making it relevant for businesses aiming to capture new customer segments and drive profitability   "Go in depth, over-segment your market because you need to understand this new trend emerging around sustainability. Because it's a major untapped market for a lot of brands and companies." - Fabien Cros    Topics Covered: 01:52 - How he got into pricing 03:43 - Introducing the concept of integrating pricing strategies with sustainability goals 10:25 - Discussing the challenges and benefits of integrating sustainability into pricing strategies 14:23 - Delving deeper into the concept of sustainability in pricing -- that sustainability is more than just a feature; it's a fundamental shift in business practices 18:30 - Acknowledging challenges integrating sustainability in pricing but also highlighting growing consumer awareness and regulatory pressures around sustainability 22:46 - The potential for sustainability as a competitive advantage in pricing strategies 27:21 - Examples of large companies successfully integrating sustainable practices 30:23 - Fabien's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "What we say with Pricing for the Planet is, move to what we call 21st century concept which is value-based pricing. That way you can create additional revenue and additional profits. That way you can invest into sustainability." - Fabien Cros  "The data is showing us that you have a subset of the population. They're so passionate and they're so convinced that it's crucial that you cannot forget this market and this market segment could actually fuel a lot of the money and a lot of the financial need that is required to move to a more sustainable business model." - Fabien Cros “We are trying to convey this message that sustainability could be viewed as a feature for the end users, but it's a new way of doing business.” - Fabien Cros    People/Resources Mentioned: Accenture: https://www.accenture.com/ Stephan Liozu: https://impactpricing.com/podcast/582-segmentation-strategies-uncovered-driving-revenue-through-focus-and-value-with-stephan-liozu/ Schneider Electric: https://www.se.com/ww/en/ Patagonia: https://www.patagonia.com/home/ Doc Martens: https://us.rewair.drmartens.com/ BCG: https://www.bcg.com Michelin: https://www.michelinman.com Decathlon: https://www.decathlon.com   Connect with Fabien Cros: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabien-cros-3b66a332/ Website: https://www.pricingfortheplanet.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
31:4915/07/2024
Blogcast: How Value-Based Selling & Marketing Work Together to Drive Increased Profitability

Blogcast: How Value-Based Selling & Marketing Work Together to Drive Increased Profitability

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 23, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/how-value-based-selling-marketing-work-together-to-drive-increased-profitability/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
12:5212/07/2024
Insights into Value-Based Pricing Strategies for B2B with Tom Nagle

Insights into Value-Based Pricing Strategies for B2B with Tom Nagle

Dr. Thomas (Tom) Nagle founded the Strategic Pricing Group (now part of Monitor Deloitte) in 1987 soon after publication of the first edition of The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing. For more than three decades, he has advised companies, primarily in B-to-B markets, on how to manage more profitably the five elements of pricing strategy: Value Creation, Value Communication, Price Structure, Pricing Policy, and Competitive Price Setting. In this episode, Tom shares how value is perceived and measured by customers, emphasizing the distinction between economic value and willingness to pay. He also delves into the complexities of pricing negotiations, highlighting the importance of understanding customer perceptions and effectively communicating the impact of products or services on their business outcomes.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Understand the intricacies of value-based pricing, distinguishing between economic value and willingness to pay, and providing real-life examples illustrating these concepts effectively Delve into these two critical decisions buyers make to help you better understand and influence customer purchasing behaviors Find out practical advice on handling price negotiations, emphasizing the importance of "gives and gets" and strategies to avoid undermining your pricing integrity   "Don't ever believe what the customer is telling you upfront about what their value is. They may believe it, but they don't know the impact." - Tom Nagle   Topics Covered: 01:29 - His early experiences with pricing influenced by his grandmother and how he got into pricing professionally 03:16 - How it is more effective to focus on market response to price changes and gather qualitative insights from clients than just precisely measuring elasticity 08:49 - Important thoughts on why pricing didn't matter much then before its deregulation 11:28 - Explaining the concepts of value and value-based pricing with an example illustrating the point 16:56 - The need to create policies to maintain price integrity and managing negotiations to prevent undermining value capture 23:25 - Discussing the concept of value-based pricing and sharing an insightful example where a service's value was evaluated against the status quo rather than a competitor 26:16 - Tom's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "The goal is not to try to put a line between them that's a weighted average of the high prices and the low prices, and call it a demand curve. The goal is to figure out why we have all this variation and use that variation to create segments that eliminate the trade off between price and volume." - Tom Nagle "The value isn't in the product. You can study the product from now until kingdom come, and you are never going to understand the value by studying the product. You have to study how the products' benefits impact the customer's income statement." - Tom Nagle   People/Resources Mentioned: Financial Analysis for Profit-Driven Pricing: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/financial-analysis-for-profitdriven-pricing/ Walmart: https://www.walmart.com DuPont: https://www.dupont.com Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award: http://asq.org/quality-resources/malcolm-baldrige-national-quality-award   Connect with Tom Nagle: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-tom-nagle Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
27:5908/07/2024
Blogcast: ROI Calculators: Busting Myths and Building Trust in B2B Sales

Blogcast: ROI Calculators: Busting Myths and Building Trust in B2B Sales

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 16, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/roi-calculators-busting-myths-and-building-trust-in-b2b-sales/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
03:4305/07/2024
Practical Methods for Competitive Intelligence in Pricing with Jason Covitz

Practical Methods for Competitive Intelligence in Pricing with Jason Covitz

Jason Covitz, the Vice President of Commercial Finance at Covetrus, possesses a wide range of expertise including CFO, Business Growth, Value-Based Pricing, Sales Effectiveness, and Product Management, among others. In this episode, Jason shares competitive pricing strategies, emphasizing the importance of understanding both inherent and relative value when comparing products to competitors. He shares practical methods for gathering competitive pricing intelligence and highlights the need for combining analytical and creative thinking in pricing.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Gain valuable insights into how to approach value-based pricing, understand competitor comparisons, and leverage features to maximize your product's value Discover valuable methods for gathering competitive pricing intelligence and innovative techniques to help you make informed pricing decisions Learn to "ruthlessly prioritize" tasks based on their potential value to help you effectively focus your efforts and achieve significant business results   "Keep digging. Get your teams comfortable with learning. Be inquisitive, poke around, turn on the lights, and hopefully you find large piles of money." - Jason Covitz   Topics Covered: 02:11 - What led Jason into pricing 03:17 - Discussing how analytics at Capital One included evaluating factors like the cost of repossessing a car and its post-repossession value 05:01 - Explaining the difference between a private equity (PE) owned company and a public company 07:32 - Advocating for a detailed feature-level competitor comparison 10:45 - Think about ROI conversation 11:45 - The challenge of determining competitor pricing for value-based pricing 16:16 - Discussing strategies for competitive pricing and understanding relative value 20:50 - Important thoughts on the use of conjoint analysis in B2B versus B2C contexts 22:40 - Talking about the blend of skills required in pricing, noting that it's not about pure numbers 23:44 - Jason's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "Competitive intelligence from pricing --- people are like, well, I'm just going to ask them what the number is. Well, the number by itself doesn't stand alone; you got to bring the whole story to the conversation in that case." - Jason Covitz   People/Resources Mentioned: Capital One: https://www.capitalone.com First Data: https://www.first-datacorp.com Covetrus: https://covetrus.com/   Connect with Jason Covitz: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcovitz/ Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
25:3201/07/2024
Blogcast: Simplifying Segmentation for Enhanced Profitability

Blogcast: Simplifying Segmentation for Enhanced Profitability

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 8, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/simplifying-segmentation-for-enhanced-profitability/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
04:3428/06/2024
The Role of Leadership in Shaping Pricing Strategies with Adrienne Gordon

The Role of Leadership in Shaping Pricing Strategies with Adrienne Gordon

With over 25 years of experience in pricing strategy, analytics, and customer relationship management, Adrienne Gordon is passionate about empowering businesses to leverage pricing as a long-term strategic advantage and a path to self-actualization. In this episode, Adrienne delves into the profound impact of CEO decisions on overall company pricing. She explores the concept of 'value killers' such as the 'Bob Factor',  the 'Lester Factor,' and ‘Cheryl factor’ illustrating how individual actions and outdated models can undermine pricing policies. Additionally, she discusses the importance of setting clear pricing goals, understanding price distribution and variance, and leveraging pricing processes to maximize profitability.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Delve into the crucial role of leadership in effective pricing and value delivery within a company Find out common pitfalls and strategies in pricing that will help you understand how internal processes and individual actions can impact a company's pricing power and profitability Discover actionable advice for immediate impact enhancing your company's pricing approach and proactive value creation   "If you look at pricing as a process, you will self-actualize as a company." - Adrienne Gordon   Topics Covered: 00:51 - How she found herself in pricing 02:26 - How her role in product management helped her develop valuable skills in product segmentation and customer insights 03:55 - Differentiating these two companies she manages, Pricing Empowered and Price Space 06:36 - The role of leadership, specifically CEOs, in pricing strategy 09:09 - Explaining the concept of "value killers" using the metaphor of "Bob" 11:40 - The negative impact of allowing CEOs to negotiate prices and discussing the concept of parameters of empowerment 14:29 - Another value killer: The Lester factor 16:55 - What makes ‘'Cheryl factor' a value killer and the extent of profit leaks this causes 20:15 - Three key actions leaders should take to drive pricing in their companies 24:19 - Differentiating between intentional and unintentional price variance 25:14 - Adrienne's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: “If the CEO doesn't believe that you can proactively price and influence markets with your pricing, then the company has no faith in it either.” - Adrienne Gordon "Parameters of empowerment: to me sometimes actually retracting some permission and then testing your value proposition, pushing pricing a little bit so that the organization can see the worth doesn't fall apart when you do that. And releasing that empowerment back, I think, actually, can help companies evolve." - Adrienne Gordon "I often make recommendations, do not put on your parameters of empowerment 5, 10, and 15. Put on 4.72. Somebody's going to have to do the hard work to figure out what 4.72% discount is. And that's a good thing." - Adrienne Gordon   People/Resources Mentioned: McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com   Connect with Adrienne Gordon: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-gordon-0a93129/ Website: https://www.pricespace.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
26:0724/06/2024
Blogcast: Reduce the Risk of Raising Prices

Blogcast: Reduce the Risk of Raising Prices

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 2, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/reduce-the-risk-of-raising-prices/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
02:4121/06/2024
Unlocking Pricing Potential Using the Pricing Spineometer with Tim Smith

Unlocking Pricing Potential Using the Pricing Spineometer with Tim Smith

Tim Smith helps executives address critical questions in pricing, marketing, sales, and corporate strategy in the face of high uncertainty by using proven best practices informed by solid academic research. In this episode, Tim delves into the Pricing Spineometer, a comprehensive tool designed to assess a company's pricing capabilities. By examining financial performance and organizational structure, one can provide valuable insights into the gap between a company's current pricing practices and optimal strategies. He also touches on the crucial role pricing plays in business success and the importance of CEO involvement in driving pricing excellence.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Discover this pricing tool called Pricing Spineometer for assessing a company's pricing capabilities and learn how it works, its significance, and how it can benefit businesses Gain insights into the world of pricing strategies discover surprising findings about pricing practices in various industries and how they impact business performance Explore the critical role of CEOs in driving pricing excellence within organizations and understand why pricing decisions often require the direct involvement and prioritization of top leadership, and how this impacts business outcomes   "Take the time to apply the expertise necessary to your pricing questions. Think about it, and then listen to that expertise." - Tim Smith   Topics Covered: 01:36 - Sharing an enriching experience teaching and consulting 02:45 - How he found himself in pricing 04:08 - What made him create Pricing Spineometer, what is it all about, clarity on it measuring a gap versus a scorecard 07:31 - The process of using the Pricing Spineometer 11:40 - How the initial financial analysis sets the foundation for understanding a company's pricing needs and capabilities 14:29 - Understanding that creating a Pricing Spineometer for a company involves significant work and expertise 16:26 - AI's impact on pricing and the companies' various reactions on their pricing capabilities assessment with pricing spineometer 19:16 - Valued for the expertise and insight not on time spent 20:08 - Surprises coming up for different companies pricing sophistication 22:19 - Does the CEO takes care of the development of pricing expertise and how does a CRO differ from a VP of Pricing 24:26 - Tim's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "If you changed the way you thought about pricing, there'd be a huge bottom line impact to your company." - Tim Smith "You're charging for the intellect that goes into the work, not the actual amount of time it takes to do the work." - Tim Smith "There are ways to get around tools, there are ways to use the tools, but you’ve got to understand what the goal is." - Tim Smith   People/Resources Mentioned: World Class Pricing: The Journey by Paul Hunt: http://www.pricingsolutions.com/world-class-pricing-the-journey/ TI: https://www.ti.com Walmart:https://www.walmart.com Coca Cola: https://www.coca-cola.com/us/en Pepsi: https://www.pepsi.com/ Nvidia: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/ Kraft Heinz: https://www.kraftheinzcompany.com/   Connect with Tim Smith: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drwiglaf/ Website: https://wiglafpricing.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
28:2317/06/2024
Blogcast: The Value of a Feature: How to Create Value Tables

Blogcast: The Value of a Feature: How to Create Value Tables

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on April 25, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/the-value-of-a-feature-how-to-create-value-tables/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/  
06:1314/06/2024
Navigating Price Changes: Overcoming Fear and Implementing Strategy with Patrick Meegan

Navigating Price Changes: Overcoming Fear and Implementing Strategy with Patrick Meegan

Patrick Meegan is a Managing Director at Investor Group Services. Experienced in technology, industrials, consumer products, retail and e-commerce, subscription programs, pricing, and product strategy. In this episode, he delves into the complexities of pricing strategies, emphasizing the importance of aligning prices with the perceived value and understanding market segments. She also explores the nuances between B2C and B2B pricing, highlighting the transparency in B2C and the significance of marketing and packaging in consumer products. Additionally, she provides insights on implementing price changes effectively in different organizational sizes and navigating the challenges of setting prices through distribution channels.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Understand buyer drivers in order to make strategic decisions in pricing and packaging Learn practical advice on implementing price changes, particularly the challenges and strategies for ensuring successful pricing execution Gain valuable insights into the differences between B2C and B2B pricing, including unique challenges in B2C and the role of marketing in consumer products   "Spend time pressure testing the ideas." - Patrick Meegan   Topics Covered: 01:51 - The best way to teaching case studies and the how to go about each case 02:49 - How he ended up in pricing despite lack of pricing background 03:59 - Value-based pricing and understanding buyer behavior 05:03 - The process of generating pricing insights 06:39 - Application of a framework to generate pricing insights 08:57 - Challenges and strategies for executing pricing changes, particularly in larger organizations 11:17 - Overcoming fear of raising prices. 13:08 - Strategies for reducing fear and uncertainty when implementing price increases  15:42 - The appropriate role of salespeople in pricing decisions 17:32 - The importance of setting and managing price floors and discounting policies for salespeople 21:34 - Maintaining pricing integrity and avoiding discounts 22:46 - The differences between B2C and B2B pricing strategies and how crucial is setting the end user price first when selling through distribution or channels 26:46 - Pat's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "If we can't understand from the buyer's side what's driving their purchase, then it's hard for us to understand how to sell to them, how to negotiate, where to hang the value, how to package and how to structure the pricing model." - Patrick Meegan "I cringe so much when I see people going out with a price of whatever it is with a discount right along with it because whatever value established you just eroded by saying it wasn't worth that." - Patrick Meegan "Your portfolio also plays an important role in how you can influence pricing." - Patrick Meegan   People/Resources Mentioned: Kimberly Clark: https://www.kimberly-clark.com/en-us Kleenex: https://www.kleenex.com/en-us/ Huggies: https://www.huggies.com/en-us/   Connect with Patrick Meegan: Website: maplestreet.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmeegan/ Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
29:0210/06/2024
Blogcast: B2B Market Research Is Overrated

Blogcast: B2B Market Research Is Overrated

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on April 18, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/b2b-market-research-is-overrated/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
02:2407/06/2024
AI vs. SaaS: Transforming Software Pricing and Value Delivery with Steven Forth

AI vs. SaaS: Transforming Software Pricing and Value Delivery with Steven Forth

Steven Forth is Ibbaka’s Co-Founder, CEO, and Partner. Ibbaka is a strategic pricing advisory firm. He was CEO of LeveragePoint Innovations Inc., a SaaS business. In this episode, Steven explains how AI can significantly enhance software customization and pricing, enabling more precise value delivery for each customer. He emphasizes that while AI introduces new capabilities, it does not fundamentally change the core principles of pricing.    Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Dive deep into the comparison between AI and the transformative impact of SaaS, providing valuable insights into the future of software pricing and delivery Understand value models and how AI can optimize pricing strategies Explore how AI can enable highly customized software configurations and pricing, making it easier to deliver and capture value tailored to individual customers   "Before they invest a lot of time and effort in developing or pricing their own AI, find out what their customers are already doing and how they're thinking about the problems." - Steven Forth   Topics Covered: 00:47 - Skepticism as well as optimism regarding AI and addressing the hype surrounding AI 04:15 - Exploring how AI might impact software pricing compared to the changes brought about by cloud-based SaaS. 07:05 - The way AI can optimize software configurations and pricing based on individual value drivers for each customer 10:44 - Discussing how SaaS fundamentally changed software pricing compared to AI 14:11 - How AI, while it enhances capabilities and user experiences, does not fundamentally change the underlying principles of pricing 16:31 - What is a value model? 18:15 - Pricing being tied more closely to value with the rise of AI 23:27 - Steven's best pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "The underlying ways that we think about pricing have not changed because of generative AI and will not change, but some of them we’ll be able to execute on much, much more effectively." - Steven Forth "I think of pricing not as being something that is data-driven, but something that is model-driven." - Steven Forth "AI is changing how we build, deliver, and experience the functionality that software and data can bring. But as it does that, it also opens new ways for us to think about the pricing of the applications and the data." - Steven Forth   People/Resources Mentioned: Pros: https://pros.com Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ph/Don Norman: https://www.nngroup.com/people/don-norman/ Jacob Nielsen: https://www.nngroup.com/people/don-norman/ Totogi: https://www.totogi.com McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com Tom Nagle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-tom-nagle-2bb2288/ Zilliant: https://zilliant.com Pricefx: https://www.pricefx.com Vendavo: https://www.vendavo.com Tomasz Tunguz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasztunguz/   Connect with Steven Forth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenforth/ Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
25:4703/06/2024
Blogcast: Value for Buyer Personas

Blogcast: Value for Buyer Personas

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on April 11, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/value-for-buyer-personas/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
03:4831/05/2024
Dynamic Pricing Strategies for Sustainable Recurring Revenue with Amanda Northcutt

Dynamic Pricing Strategies for Sustainable Recurring Revenue with Amanda Northcutt

As a consultant, coach, and 6-time executive, Amanda Northcutt has launched, grown, and scaled online businesses with fantastic results on both the individual and organizational level, while creating extraordinary, frictionless, and successful journeys for their customers.  In this episode, Amanda delves on the importance of focusing on customer retention and expansion to maximize recurring revenue. And  leveraging foundational desires and social proof to enhance one's marketing efforts. She also highlights the value of dynamic and continuous pricing strategies and the need for personalized connections in sales and the impact of showing proven value to customers.   Why you have to check out today’s podcast: Learn to prioritize expansion, not just acquiring and retaining customers, to maximize lifetime value Discover why it's crucial to avoid static pricing and the importance of regularly testing and adjusting your pricing Gain a deep understanding of your customers' core desires and master the art of leveraging social proof to create highly effective marketing strategies   "Always be testing your pricing. Your pricing should not be static. That is such a rookie mistake to think that you've nailed it the first time, or at any time really." - Amanda Northcutt   Topics Covered: 01:39 - An accidental entry into recurring revenue 03:20 - Talking about the time of Salesforce' rise in the SaaS industry 04:46 - Sharing her journey into the subscription-based business model 05:57 - The challenges and importance of marketing and delivering value in subscription-based businesses 08:25 - An added challenge for SaaS businesses of needing a product that continuously delivers value to retain customers 10:46 - The need to create expansion opportunities with tailored solutions and the need to leverage social proof to strengthen the value proposition to potential and existing customers 13:31 - Understanding and leveraging consumer psychology and desires to drive value perception and retention in both B2B and B2C contexts. 15:46 - Expanding on customer's foundational desires as effective marketing strategies 17:21 - Helping customers achieve their goals and meet their needs rather than simply trying to make a sale. 20:06 - Describing her current work and her pricing approach for her clients' customers.  25:52 - Amanda's best pricing advice 26:57 - What it means to be always testing your pricing   Key Takeaways: "...the whole deal with recurring revenue: If your marketing sucks, one, people aren't going to sign up. Two, if you're not delivering value over and over and over and over and over again, people are going to churn." - Amanda Northcutt "If you truly actually care about someone and you want to help match them with a solution that is actually going to help them not only reach their foundational desires, but the real business needs that they have, that's where the most sales are going to be made." - Amanda Northcutt "Desperation is the enemy of all sales, ever." - Amanda Northcutt "Another element of closing the deal in an automated sales funnel is that guarantee is very, very, very important. It's right up there with social proof." - Amanda Northcutt   People/Resources Mentioned: Texas A&M University: https://www.tamu.edu/ TexAgs.com: https://texags.com Marc Benioff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Benioff Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ap/ Alan Weiss: https://alanweiss.com/about-alan-weiss/ Convertkit: https://convertkit.com Active Campaign: https://www.activecampaign.com/ Amazon Prime Video: https://www.primevideo.com/   Connect with Amanda Northcutt: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/northcuttamanda/ Email: [email protected]   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: [email protected]  
29:1827/05/2024
Blogcast: Expert-Approved Pricing Insights at Your Fingertips: Discover Our Custom Pricing GPT

Blogcast: Expert-Approved Pricing Insights at Your Fingertips: Discover Our Custom Pricing GPT

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on April 4, 2024, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/discover-our-custom-pricing-gpt/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
02:5924/05/2024